


From the Ashes of Grief

by Uniasus



Series: From the Ashes of Grief [1]
Category: Big Hero 6 (2014)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Becoming heros, Feels, Gen, Grief/Mourning, Growing Up, Post-Movie(s), Self-Discovery
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-11
Updated: 2015-02-15
Packaged: 2018-03-11 19:39:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 18,548
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3332420
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Uniasus/pseuds/Uniasus
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The public attention Big Hero 6 received after the battle is not something Hiro wants. He just wants to curl up in his room and cry. But his friends won't let him, Tadashi won't let him, and he really would hate it if he went down in history as 'the baby hero'.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Dawn Prediction

**Author's Note:**

> Those of you who follow me on Tumblr (uniasus) and have been seeing snippets of a BH6 fic? Well, this is it! 'Bout time too! Thanks for being patient.
> 
> A few things before we begin.
> 
> 1) There's slight world building here (and naming) that I'm super proud of/thought a lot about but didn't want to put in end notes because most of you would have no idea what they're referring to. So they're in text. You'll see them if you hover your mouse over the underlined text. Up to you if you want to look into my mind like that or not, but this way things are immediate. 
> 
> 2) I played with the timeline a bit in the movie to make more sense to me. Science, even genius science, takes time. 
> 
> Timeline  
> Mid August - showcase, award meant for following Fall, but for Hiro's situation said could register for that Fall  
> Mid Sept - classes start, but registration still allowed through first week of Oct  
> Oct 1st - Baymax activates three days before registration deadline. Day after Hiro talks to the deans and gets permission to defer admittance till 2nd semester. Wants to focus on Yokai, but feeling active enough to start school come January  
> Oct 3rd - Dock incident. Group contacts Hiro, who doesn't respond, and Baymax recontacts before they go out that night  
> Next Three Weeks - suit building and testing  
> October 30th - (roughly one month since the warehouse and two since the fire) Island fight  
> November 1st - Final battle

The police came. An ambulance came. There was attention on Abigail, as there should have been, but Hiro did not like the attention him or his friends were receiving. He wanted to go home. He wanted to cry. Cry and cry for days. 

He had lost the one thing connecting him to Tadashi. He had lost both his brother again and a new friend in a single blow.

He wanted to be dead to the world.

But the rest of the team was around him, forced to stay there until the police to could talk to them. There were more pressing concerns then taking witness statements - seeing to those with medical needs, blocking off the area, securing Callaghan. And it wasn't like they could be called up later at their homes. They were in their super suits, they were there as anonymous heroes. They had to stay.

It didn't stop Hiro from wanting to leave however. And something must have given off a clue as to how depressed he was feeling because there wasn't just one, but two arms around him. Honey and Wasabi, wrapping an arm over the opposite shoulder so their arms overlapped against the back of his neck. Hiro clutched Baymax's arm all the more tighter. 

Eventually a policeman came over to them, Krei hovering behind him but not coming close. The officer flicked his eyes over the five of them. Hiro watched him dismiss Honey, Wasabi, and himself between them before flicking his eyes to Fred and Gogo. He wasn't surprised when the man directed his words to the speed addict. 

"Before we begin, I want to thank you for what you did. You saved a lot of lives, taking down that villain, and overloading that machine before it could suck up half the city. I'll need to take your statements, but before I do I want you to think about something."

"Yeah? What?" Gogo popped a gum bubble. 

"Your visors...they're not really tinted."

Four of them froze and Hiro mentally kicked himself. He had never thought of hiding their faces, just protecting them. 

"We all know your faces, and Mr. Krei has mentioned he knows where you're from if not your names," - Honey stepped a bit closer to Hiro - "but we don't know if you want that to be common knowledge. If's up to you, you can give us your real names and we'll put that in the report, or you can give us fake names and we won't attempt to figure out your identities. "

Gogo turned to look around the rest of the group. Hiro didn't really care either way, or rather he couldn't bring himself to care. Baymax was gone. Callaghan had betrayed them all. And there had been so many close calls....

He just wanted to go home and cry. He didn't want to think about this and what their answer would mean for the future. 

Hiro could feel Gogo's eyes on him, but he refused to look at her. He didn't want to think about this.

He wasn't sure what the others would want, didn't care, and assumed they were doing that silent communication thing he had seen them do. But in the end, Fred didn't really give them much of a choice.

Fred stepped forward, thumping his fist to his chest, and said. "I am Fredzilla and we are Big Hero 6."

Hiro was glad the officer hadn't asked about the 6th member, everyone there had seen him dive into the portal with Baymax and come out without him. 

"Alright then, Big Hero 6, I have a few questions for you regarding the incident here today."

* * *

When Hiro got home that night, tired, sore, upset, and just done, he didn't even say hello to Aunt Cass. He went straight up to his room and cried and cried. Aunt Cass closed up early and joined him in his room, she started crying at Hiro's own tears, and while Hiro refused to say why he was crying so hard he suspected she knew it had to do with Tadashi. 

Tadashi and Baymax and Callaghan and the people in the building and his friends and him and why not Abigail too.

He cried till he was exhausted and then woke up two hours later in the dark to discover Cass had dressed him in pajamas and tucked him in. He spent the rest of the night staring at the rice paper screen that hid Tadashi's bed from view, falling asleep again only when the navy sky started to turn light blue in a dawn prediction.

* * *

When Tadashi had died Aunt Cass had done what she could but, for the most part left Hiro alone. Life had to go on, Cass had to run the shop, but she did her best. Hiro knew that. It was just that he didn't know what he needed, didn't know if he even wanted to get over it, and Cass was at a similar loss. 

Tadashi's friends - for they had never really been his friends, just his brother's, that he thought were cool people that let him hang with them - had remained at a distance too. They had been connected through Tadashi, and now that he was gone, their interactions were irregular. They also became less and less as Hiro kept ignoring them.

This time around, when he had lost Tadashi again and Baymax and felt so empty because now Tadashi had died for nothing, nothing, and Baymax had died because of him, they refused to leave him alone.

Hiro supposed it made sense, seeing as they had bonded throughout this incident. That didn't mean he appreciated it when they stomped up the stairs to his room and all flopped on top of him. Still, he supposed it could have been worse. For Fred, falling on someone was pretty tame. Hiro suspected they were all wrung out from the fight, maybe wanting to stay home and cry too, but had come to see him anyway. 

It reminded him a little bit of the the hug from behind Baymax had given him after downloading a database on personal loss. Grateful for the contact, even if he wasn't sure he wanted it.

After awhile, they rolled off each other and sat in a circle around his bed, except for Fred who was bouncing up and down in Hiro's desk chair.

"Guess what, guess what?"

"What?" Hiro asked, rubbing his eyes and pulling himself out of the lull state he had slipped into at the bottom of the pile.

"We're super heroes!"

Hiro thought Fred was simply excited about the action yesterday, but Honey slipped a copy of the San Fransokyo Examiner into his lap to see that the main headline indeed declared 'Big Hero 6 Saves the City!'. Gogo added to it by dropping a few website print outs in his lap. Someone had taken photos of them all during the fight and complied rough biographies, complete with made up names. Only Fred had given an alternate name to the police and the officer had then addressed them by the color of their gear.

"A lot of this is speculation," Honey said as Hiro scanned the pages.

Fred's exuberant 'We're the talk of the town!' went unnoticed as Hiro continued to read. No one had gotten close to the action and so public guessing as to their powers were wrong. Wasabi didn't wield knives, no one had seemed to get a shot of the periodic table of elements on Honey's purse, and they seemed convinced Hiro had flight powers of his own. 

When he got to the talk of Baymax, Hiro quickly shuffled it under the rest to turn his attention to the newspaper. 

"The officer kept his word," Wasabi said as Hiro picked out words from the text. Heros, Robert Callaghan, revenge, Krei. But there was no mention of their identities, aside from a quote from Fredzilla, and when they were referenced it was by the group name Fred had made. There was also no mention of Silent Sparrow, no mention of Abigail Callaghan, and Hiro found that right. 

Callaghan's grief and madness didn't need to be public knowledge, he had been a good man once who had published brilliant papers, and Abigail certainly was having enough problems realizing she had lost years to hypersleep. 

Hiro looked up, surprised to see the rest of them had been watching him with worried eyes, and managed a weak grin in Fred's direction. 

"Big Hero 6 is a much better name then Fred's Angels."

"Yeah, I thought so too." The skater bobbed his head.

"Hiro and friends! Come down here!" Aunt Cass's voice came up the stairs and Hiro was suddenly reminded of the cry fest they had had last night. What had his aunt been thinking, seeing him like that last night?

Might as well not make her worry about him slipping into a funk like he had before. He might have lost Tadashi a second time as well as Baymax, but he didn't feel as alone this time around. He had friends, here, sitting on his bed, and from this side of his depression he could see how worried Aunt Cass had been at the end of August. Hiro slipped out of bed and his friends - no longer Tadashi's friends who liked him, but actual friendship born in fire - followed. 

Aunt Cass had pot of coffee in hand, even as a tray of donuts and a full tea pot sat in the middle of the kitchen table with five place mats. She smiled at them all as they descended the stairs, eyes going soft as she spotted Hiro in front of them, and Hiro couldn't begrudge her the quick kiss she placed on his head. 

"I figured you might want some lunch, so here you go."

Hiro said nothing about sprinkle donuts not being lunch food. Cass had the habit of unconsciously forcing her stress eating on others and if her mind was straying to donuts Hiro knew he had her really worried. 

"Thanks Aunt Cass," he said, wrapping an arm around her waist before pulling back. 

Hiro turned to look at friends behind him. "You guys get started, I'm gonna shower real fast."

"Good idea," Gogo said, already pulling out a chair to sit as Honey took the coffee pot from Aunt Cass. Hiro noticed something pass between Cass and Honey, gratitude if he had to put a name on it, and he made note to make sure to invite his friends over more often. They were doing him good, and maybe Aunt Cass too. 

Hiro ran up the stairs, overcome by a sudden sadness, and found himself crying as he took his shower. He should have know that even if the pain this time was just as strong and yet not at the same time, the tears would come. It had been a week before they stopped before, it only made sense they'd last a few days this time too.

* * *

When Hiro made his way to the main floor twenty minutes later, Aunt Cass was no where in sight. His friends were still there though, Wasabi's fingers twitching as if he wished to clean off Fred's chocolate covered fingers. Fred was apparently trying to beat a record for donuts stuffed in a mouth with Gogo halfheartedly urging him on. 

Hiro accepted a cup of tea from Honey, but refused a donut. He looked into his tea to avoid seeing her face, he could imagine it well enough thank you. He wasn't ready to eat yet; his stomach felt small and tight just like his chest. 

Instead, Gogo asked a question. "How are you feeling?"

Hiro knew it was directed at him, suspected it was asking about things other than his physical well being. He didn't want to say what he was feeling. About his tight chest, the aching hole of who he had lost yesterday, how he felt like crying but not in front of them, how the kitchen felt bright and sunny when it was supposed to be dark and gloomy but he was slightly okay with that, about how this pain was familiar and yet better than before because he had friends this time around.

He was very grateful Fred answered instead. "My shoulders are a little sore," he said, rolling first one and then the other, "and my feet. Landing after tall jumps is way harder than I thought it would be."

"Nothing specific for me," Wasabi added. "Just a few bruises and aches."

None of them had serious injuries, the worse being Hiro's ankle. He had twisted it trying to gain footing in the deteriorating building, but between flying and stress and adrenaline hadn't really noticed it until this morning. They were all safe, healthy, and Gogo took the words right out of his mouth.

"I can't believe we were this lucky." 

And was true, they all mussed. They talked for an hour, explaining what happened to them out of sight from the main group, or how one type of action had looked like from afar. There had been many, many close calls that Hiro hadn't really analyzed before. But maybe that was because he had been preoccupied with his own, clutching a piece of metal to prevent himself from being sucked into a portal that at that time believed would bring about death. Thinking about all the ways they could have gotten hurt made Hiro's chest feel even smaller, because wasn't losing Baymax and Tadashi enough? He couldn't loose them too! It was only assuring himself that his friends were around him, talking and eating fried dough, that his chest clamp loosened just a bit. 

Wasabi was the one who said it first, even though Hiro knew it had been on their minds since the previous afternoon. "We're sorry about Baymax."

"Yeah..." Hiro's thoughts went up to his room, where the robotic fist was leaning against the rice paper divider that lead to Tadashi's part of the room.

"You can rebuild him," Honey suggested, pouring more tea into Hiro's cup. Sixty minutes, and he had only drunk half of it while his friends had finished most of the donuts. 

True. Hiro could. Whether they were on Tadashi's desktop, one of his various external harddrives, or on the school servers, Hiro was pretty sure his brother had left the blueprints for Baymax somewhere. If he had been built once, he could be built again. 

But it would just be a robot. It would not have Tadashi's code. There would be no core program to activate him at the word 'ow'. There would be no ability to analyze a scan. There would be no knowledge on how to treat a paper cut. There would be no awareness of who Hiro was and the weeks they had spent together.

"It...it wouldn't be the same. It wouldn't really be him."

Thankfully, they all knew enough about robotics to understand that. Except for Fred.

"Why wouldn't it?"

"Because the core part of Baymax was his programming chip," Gogo answered, swatting the blonde on the shoulder. "Don't you remember what happened when it was removed?"

Hiro winced and then curled into himself. He was ashamed of that night, of loosing sight of himself and his brother's work. 

"His chip is in the portal," Hiro explained to Fred, "and my coding skills have never paralleled Tadashi's. I wouldn't be able to recreate Baymax's programming even if I did rebuilt him."

"Oh." The border lowered his shoulders and Hiro felt the air in the room suddenly get heavy. It was as if Baymax was slumped over him again, but instead of activating his internal heater Hiro could feel the cold metal in his limbs. 

"I miss him," Fred said.

"Me too," Hiro whispered and he was surprised at how shaky those two words were. 

The others made small comments, 'me too' and 'we all do' and 'so do I'. And suddenly, the air around them was warm as if Hiro was once again underneath them all on his bed. They were united in their grief and shared memories, in the heavy silent air, and that made things a little better because Hiro know they were there to support each other.

What he wouldn't have given to have had this months ago when his brother passed. Hiro should have answered those calls and messages.

This time, he knew he would.

* * *

Hiro knew the secret to getting over grief now - contact with friends and family and keeping busy. He didn't have classes, he had pushed back his registration till the second semester, so he spent his time helping Aunt Cass in the cafe. She had enjoyed his presence, and he hers. It was reassuring, to look across the room and realize his family wasn't completely gone. Sadly, Cass was a bit taller than him and had an easier time preparing drinks and working the cash register, but Hiro had long ago used his knowledge of chemistry to improve her recipes. He had been regulated to getting pastries from from the display and clearing tables. All things that had to be done, but were rather boring.

When Aunt Cass caught him absentmindedly sketching aerodynamic jetpacks and calculating thrust, resistance, lift, she gently shoved him out the door.

"Use that big brain of yours, you're not putting it to good use here."

They had both froze at the phrase, Tadashi had always been talking about Hiro's 'big brain', but this time it didn't bring the pain it used to. After all, Hiro had used the phrase himself just last week. 

"I will," he had said and headed to SFIT.

So he only worked in the cafe two mornings a week, he still felt a strong need to be near his aunt, and instead spent time at the school. He would rotate between sitting in on random lectures, depending on what was being taught in the class rooms he walked by because the 100 lectures he had poked his head into had not challenged him, and sitting in the 'nerd lab' watching his friends work. 

Hiro didn't have any projects of his own, he wasn't an enrolled student and so didn't have access to school resources. Neither did he have any idea of what he would like to work on. Sure, he had been sketching jetpacks at the cafe, he'd always had a thing for flying, but the idea of flying without Baymax just felt wrong. Maybe one day, in the future, when it didn't feel a little bit like a betrayal. 

But that was okay. He timed Gogo's test runs, threw stuff through Wasabi's plasma net, and helped Honey set up chemical mixes to create solutions that would induce chemical embitterment on more then just tungsten carbonate. Fred, well, Fred was a sequential art minor and he just asked for Hiro to stand in poses he could use for a drawing reference. 

It was almost Thanksgiving when Fred insisted that Hiro come up to Sea Cliff and visit his house again. It was a little odd, because Hiro hadn't been there since October when they were testing their suits and the invitation had only been for him. Whatever Fred wanted to show him, it was secret. 

That alone made Hiro curious.

Upon arriving at Fred's mansion, Hiro was instantly pulled against Fred's side as the young man threw his arm over Hiro's shoulder. What proceeded was a brief tour of the house that ended in Fred's personal space. The 'comic cave' as Hiro always thought of it. 

"What's up?" Hiro asked once the door was closed behind them. He could feel Fred's anxiousness to ask something, but instead of answering Fred lead Hiro to a shelf in the back of the room. 

"Watch this," the man said and moved both arms of a kaiju action figure into the air. Instantly the shelf slide aside to reveal a set of descending stairs. 

"Awesome." Hiro started down the steps, eager to see where it lead. But knowing Fred, it was probably to some model of a hero's underground base of operations. He didn't remember it before, and was pretty sure Fred would have showed it to them, so it had to be new.

When Hiro stepped on to the flat floor at the end, green lights above flickered on. 

"Welcome to the Fredzilla Cave."

Hiro couldn't help but snort at the name. It wasn't much of a cave, more like a basement bomb shelter, but the walls had been painted to look like one. Browns and red, with blacks for shadows, there were stalagmites and stalactites on all four walls and someone had textured the ceiling. One wall had an expanse of HD screens and computers, all turned off. While Hiro knew Fred knew his way around a typical computer, he'd seen Fred draw on a tablet a few times, this set up was more advanced then anything Hiro thought his friend would ever need. If anything, it was there because it was a common thing to have in a superhero hide out.

Across from the computer center was something much less advanced - a long cork board and a glass wardrobe containing the suit Hiro had made for Fred last month. Hiro ignored the suit in favor of looking at all the papers pined to the cork board. There were the original online posts about Big Hero 6 after Krei's demonstration, as well as the article from the Examiner. There was a full column of older articles online, of a man in a red and blue with a magnet on his back, but a bunch more featuring a very familiar kaiju suit. Actually, a lot more than there should have been, considering Big Hero 6 had only gone out once.

"Fred....have you been going out in the suit?"

"Totally. I mean, I'm a super hero now! I have a responsibility to the city of San Fransokyo! Not to mention, family tradition."

Family tradition? Hiro filled that to ask about later, because he had seen nothing anywhere to suggest kaiju suits were a tradition anywhere aside from cons. 

"How come I haven't seen any of these articles before?" Hiro asked, eyes roving over them looking for a source. There were all from websites, judging by the type running along the bottom. Strangely enough, one was called Fredzilla Watch. Another, BH6-Go!. Websites about Fred, about Hiro and the others. No one had mentioned any of them to him before.

"Well, it's not like I've been doing anything super important." Fred slipped his hands into his pockets. "Just practicing, patrolling. You never know who might show up, and you can't show up to a crime after it's happening! No way to catch the bad guy then. Most of them are just people talking about seeing me. But last night, I saved a cat!"

"Like, from a tree?"

"Sorta? See, one of my neighbors has a pet panther but it escaped, and well, couldn't have it terrorizing the city. So I went and found it, brought it home. But, um, the Fredzilla suit isn't actually panther proof."

Disregarding the strangeness of a pet panther - rich people were weird - Hiro allowed Fred to steer him towards the suit. His friend was right, the suit had not been panther proof. Hiro had used sturdy material and so the suit didn't look too bad. There was a small rip in the shoulder, but the most visible damage was the design. While the panther hadn't done significant damage to the suit's material, or Fred inside, it had ruined the coating. The top layer of the fabric was ripped, destroying the colors and revealing the rather drab charcoal synthetic mesh below. The lower two eyes were cross hatched and there was a missing tooth from the 'mouth'. Hiro suspected the panther had stuck its paw in the flamethrower and damaged something inside. 

"Let me guess, you want me to fix it."

"Can you?"

"Of course."

"Awesome. Could you also give me astral project powers? So there can be three of me at once?"

"Uh, no."

* * *

"So." Gogo popped a bubble while she and Hiro stared at her bike. She had just finished a test run, heading west out the park, up to Land's End, and then back to SFIT from the east end of Golden Torii Park. It was, finally, fast enough. 

Hiro waited for her to say something else, but she didn't and he just shook his head. He knew her well enough by this time to know she wanted to ask something, but didn't know if it was appropriate. And by appropriate, something emotional that would make Hiro's chest feel tight. Hers too, he guessed. Most of thier group had the same triggers. 

He ignored it, forcing her to say what she wanted, and so instead went off on the topic of her bike.

"I never asked before, but why exactly are you making a faster bike? I mean, this thing rivals a car! What's the point?"

"I like going fast, what other point is there?"

Hiro turned to look at her and lifted an eyebrow. "What point did you tell your professors?" No one just got to work on a project because they thought the concept was cool, there had to be a real potential benefit to receive a portion of the school's money. Even if Gogo had created this project for her own enjoyment, she had to have BSed something in her proposal. 

She blew another bubble and then popped it, pulling the gum back into her mouth.

"There's a whole bunch of reasons to go fast, other than fun. Usually because something urgent's going on. But hey, you've seen this city. There's too much foot traffic to bike on the sidewalks, and those on the street get into trouble. It's hard going uphill, you hold up cars behind you. That's one benefit right there, easier bikes."

Hiro nodded. Electromagnetic suspension meant less resistance, which allowed the bike to go faster. But it also meant it was easier to pedal, less friction with the gears, so all those struggling bikers could struggle less. "A better bike, period? For safety."

"Yeah, but also because of things I noticed once I started working."

Hiro nodded, silently encouraging her to continue. He knew she had started working at fourteen as a bike messenger. The only daughter of a poor family of seven, she had been eager to pull her weight and help bring food to the table. She still worked, but not as many hours now. Like Tadashi had received, Gogo had a full ride to SFIT. Except, she also had a position as an RA in one of the freshman dorms. With free room and board, and a paycheck for going out, she didn't need to work as a messenger for money anymore. She just did it for fun.

"One was, the faster I delivered things the bigger my tip. The other was how maneuverable bikes are. I can't tell you how many times I've weaved between people and cars, only to realize the traffic jam was a result of an accident or some other mini crisis. Half the time, I wouldn't see any help because the officials would be stuck in traffic. But if you put cops on fast bikes, or EMTs, you could have people there helping right away while the back up comes."

"No wonder you and Tadashi were friends, you both wanted to help people."

In response, she reached out to ruffle his hair. Hiro made a noise of protest, but honestly he didn't mind. Gogo wasn't as over bearing as the others, and they shared a similar taste for adrenaline. Hiro also suspected she missed Tadashi almost as much as he did. She had after all gotten the kanji version of his name tattooed in the center of her chest. 

Hiro didn't think they had ever officially become a couple, Tadashi's habits had never indicated a girlfriend. If there had been the slightest hint, Hiro would have teased his big brother about it mercilessly. But Hiro had learned that there had been a bit of attraction, and they had obviously shared a goal of wanting to help others. They just went about it separate ways. 

They spent a few more seconds staring at the bike before Gogo again said, "So."

This time, Hiro was very tempted to ask her to just spit out her question. But after thinking a bit, he understand what she wanted. Or thought he did anyway. This was the finished product in front of them, completely zero resistance, and fast enough for Gogo's own desires. A EMT would never push the bike to its limits, not like Gogo, but this bike was not the only piece of tech that allowed her to go fast.

"You want me to upgrade your suit, don't you?"

"If you don't mind." That slight pause. She had been expecting him to mind. But Hiro didn't. The suit was built to go fast and that was a thrill Gogo was hard pressed to ignore. It did however ignite a small flare of pain in Hiro's own chest. He wanted to fly again, but it felt too soon. He'd only done it with Baymax and building a way to do it solo felt like a betrayal. 

"Nah. I've already been tinkering with some upgrades with Fred's suit. He wants to do super backflips as well as super jumps."

Gogo snorted through her nose and Hiro smiled too.

* * *

Hiro wasn't too surprised when Honey texted him to see if he was free that afternoon. Not after the little PR piece that had been on the news yesterday afternoon and talked about that morning.

Alister Krei had announced that the rubble of the old building was now clear, allowing repairs and new construction to start the following Monday. He had also, very publicly, extended an invitation to 'Big Hero 6' to attend the ceremony saying he wanted to thank them for saving what they had, the most important being his life. 

Hiro wasn't sure he wanted to go, well, not in his armor anyway. 

He wasn't sure if Honey was planning on going in her get-up either, but it made sense that this mention of their group was stirring up thoughts. His own mind kept drifting into blueprints. Honey's Power Purse had been destroyed fighting Yokai and Hiro assumed she was going to ask him for a new one. Maybe he could add more chemicals, make it less bulky.

Hiro answered, yes, he was free, and headed towards the garage. He knew he should be studying; while technically not enrolled till next semester he was studying for classes offered this one and was going to sit the exams. If he passed, well, his transcript would just say he was taking thirty credits next semester. He had needed something to pass the time, once he had lost the distraction of Baymax and revenge. Now however, studying was far from his mind and he set about planning for a new Power Purse.

A few hours later, Honey found him in the garage. Behind her came Wasabi, Gogo, and Fred. He got the feeling this wasn't simply about wanting new gear. 

They tip-toed around the subject, Hiro playing host while his friends accepted his drinks and snacks while they commented about they day. Like Gogo earlier in the week, they obviously thought that what they wanted to talk about would bring up sensitive issues. Which mean Baymax or Tadashi. Or just Big Hero 6 in general, which was always linked with who he had lost in Hiro's mind. 

It was obvious Fred kept wanting to say something, but Gogo kept sending him looks and kicks under the table. 

Exasperated and seeing no reason to draw it out, Hiro turned his attention to Wasabi. Fred wouldn't say thing properly, or tactfully, and Hiro had a feeling his friends were aiming for that. Gogo obviously wasn't going to say anything since she hadn't already and Honey would coo and say platitudes, dodging around the idea until someone else put her out of her misery and spoke up. Wasabi however, would just crumble and answer his question.

"So," Hiro said, staring at the physics student, "did you want to go to the ground breaking ceremony in your suit?"

Hiro ignored Fred's shout of 'yes' and Honey's 'um's and 'well's to concentrate on Wasabi. The man's mouth had dropped. Eventually, he closed it and shrugged. 

"Look man, I couldn't actually care less about Krei's announcement on TV. But it did get me thinking, got us thinking, about Big Hero 6. I mean, sure, we did it all to stop the masked man."

"Yokai, the paper said his name was Yokai," Fred interrupted.

"I don't care what his name was, I just didn't want to die! And now that we have had time to cool down, I feel like I want to go out and do it again."

"What, almost drown and all that?" Hiro's voice sounded harder then he had wanted it to. If his friends had been thinking the same way he had...

"I'll take a pass on that any day! No, I meant...saving people. Doing something important."

"Your lasers are important!" Honey broke in, leaning onto Wasabi's arm. "Think of everything you can do with a contained plasma field!"

"Light sabers!" Fred shouted. 

"Tools," Honey corrected. "Precise tools that can cauterize wounds in surgery, knives that never dull, new scanners, heat sources. You're doing amazing work Wasabi."

"Yeah, I know that. But it's still all research! I'm no where near a proper alpha test, and Gogo you're ready to go to beta!"

"You're making more breakthroughs than me. I might have perfected a technology, but you're creating one. Of course that's going to take time. Or are you telling me that, for once, you want to go fast?"

"I-" Wasabi gulped. "Yeah. Not super fast mind you, but it's nice to see immediate results. Doing something good now instead of for the future."

"I get it man, this is why I volunteer every Sunday."

Four sets of eyes turned to look at Fred.

"You volunteer?" Gogo asked.

"Duh. With great power comes great responsibility remember? I have a great amount of cash, and it's only responsible to put it to good use."

Another beat of silence.

"Fred, you never cease to amaze me," Honey said.

Fred, to his credit, just shrugged. 

"Look," Gogo leaned forward and brought the conversation back in. "Wasabi, I get it. Who doesn't want to do something now, knowing you can make a difference. And in my suit I feel powerful, strong, fast. That's something I want to feel on a regular basis."

"Something you all do, I bet." Hiro scanned his eyes from one to the other. "Why else would you ask for me to upgrade your suit Gogo? And I suspect you first wanted to meet me to ask for a new Power Purse Honey. And I know Fred has already gotten into a few scrapes."

"That panther was a tough one."

Hiro rolled his eyes while the SFIT students turned to look at the fanboy incredulously again. 

"I'm not going to lie," Hiro shifted his eyes to the desktop, watching his fingers as they traced patterns. "I've been thinking about it, of, of flying, and doing something right."

Oh, what it had felt like on the turbines! On Baymax's back! His suit had prevented the feeling of wind on his face, but he had been able to hear the faint whistling of air rushing past, the little tugs on his armor pieces, the chill in his legs. The views, the falls, the dips, the speed. The feeling in his stomach of worry, nervousness, danger, that was small enough to ignore because he was with Baymax and Baymax was Tadashi's and neither of them would ever let anything happen to him.

Except heartbreak.

And maybe that was the worse thing ever.

"Guys, people die and get hurt in battles. We said it before, we were so lucky last time."

Baymax was gone; wonderful, huggable Baymax. Self-sacrificing Baymax, who did what he could to comfort others and make sure even strangers were safe. Tadashi had been the same.

Tadashi had died on a simple, average day. You didn't have to lose someone in a battle. It could be anywhen.

Hiro's chest felt small and tight. He wanted to find Aunt Cass, bury his head into her side so he could cry and she would lean over to shelter him on the couch. He wanted to push away the rice paper divider and curl around Tadashi's pillow, he wanted Baymax to give him a lollipop, he wanted the world to feel right.

But it was never going to feel that way again. There were arms around him, many of them, and a pair of hands similar in size to his gripping his own. Hiro was surrounded by friends, and that was good, right, even if it was the wrong type of right.

He was very glad he hadn't actually started crying and knew why his friends had been so hesitant in having this conversation with him.

"Hey, hey." That was Gogo, crouched before him with his hands in hers. She was smiling, but it was soft and her eyes were wet. If Gogo was in that state, Hiro did not want to turn his head to see Honey or Wasabi. 

Sometimes, in his hurt, he forgot about the others'. But they hurt too and if they could move past it, still want to don their suits, maybe he could too. Eventually.

"We're not talking going after super villains here, Hiro. There aren't any. Not anymore. We just want to do something right, something good."

"We formed our team because Tadashi was our friend. We all loved him too." Honey squeezed his shoulders. "Protecting people, even if it's just from getting hit by a car because they weren't watching where they were going, that's something your brother would have been proud of."

"What do you say? Should we make this an on-going thing?" Wasabi asked.

Protecting people, that was all well and good. Important. Right. An image of Baymax popped into Hiro's mind, of his vinyl arms wrapping around him as they fell out of a window. 

Those same arms, shoving his friends aside and slamming into concrete pillars. 

There were several types of risks in a battle, and while Hiro had managed to overcome one in the second fight there was no proof that it wouldn't happen again. In hindsight, alone in his room and thinking of the fight on Akuma Island, Hiro scared himself. 

"If you guys want me to fix-up and improve your suits so you can go on nightly patrols, I'll do it. But I don't think I can join you. Not yet."

He had a reason on his tongue, a lighter one but still true. It wouldn't feel right, not without Baymax. He hadn't given himself any technology or weapons, he wasn't prepared to be a superhero yet. They were there, answers waiting for the question.

But the questions never came. Something on his face stopped them, something about the pain in his chest was in his eyes, and even Fred didn't make light of it. Instead, he got a round of squeezes.


	2. Hindsight Reflection

"You guys need names."

"Wasabi's the only nickname you're giving me Fred."

"No, no, I'm serious. You have your real names, and then you have your nicknames, but now you need superhero names!"

"Why can't you just call me Wasabi?"

"No, he's right." Hiro lifted his eyes from the computer screen in front of him. "Everyone at school knows your nicknames. Even though we have an internal communications relay in the helmets now, if someone is close enough they'll hear things. If people hear you being called Wasabi, eventually it's going to be linked back to you."

"Can't I just be the Green Hero, like the journalist put in the paper?"

"It's alright with me-" 

"Nooo!" Fred violently cut Honey off, complete with big sweeping arms. "You're a superhero now! You have to have a superhero name! Like this!"

Fred pulled a notebook from his bag and flipped to a page. It was a sketch of a comic book cover. There were a group of six people standing tall in the center of it, a flag with the letters FA on it behind them. The title was 'Fred Angels'.

"Is that...us?" Honey asked.

"Inspired by us. Wouldn't do to give away our secrets, right? I altered things." He flipped to the next pages. There were panels showing what were versions of Honey and Wasabi in their suits. Honey was short and wearing orange instead of a pink, with a matching backpack and bracer on her arm. Wasabi was a navy blue, very obviously slimmed down, and wielding two glowing sabers. 

"This is Chem-girl and Full-laser."

"Um..."

"Uh-uh. I'm picking my super hero name myself!"

"Better do it fast bro. Cuz the people are speaking." Fred dug into his pocket and pulled out a bunch of folded up papers. 

Hiro pushed his chair away from his desk and joined everyone else in crowding around Fred. The papers were what he had been shown a few weeks ago, right after the final fight with Yokai, as well as a few additional posts. He remembered some crazy suggestions, and it seemed the online populaces had added more and now were fighting to come to a consensus. 

"Neon-bomb?" Honey wrinkled her nose.

"Speedy?" Gogo asked and Hiro could have sworn she sounded offended.

"Did someone seriously suggest to call me Black Hottie?"

"Better than Baby Hero," Hiro answered. There was a new photo, one he hadn't seen before, of the five of them standing off to the side after the fight waiting for the police to take their statement. Hiro was glad he didn't seem as fragile in the photo as he remembered being back then, still was, but it was obvious he was much smaller than the rest of them. 

"This is why I told the cops my names was Fredzilla."

"How do we even correct this?" Wasabi ran a hand though his hair. "I mean, do I just walk up to a journalist and say 'my name is really this?'"

"You could," Fred stroked an invisible beard, "But you'd have to do it all mysterious like and break into her house and everything."

"That may be what happens in comics, but in the real world you-"

"Do nothing."

Wasabi choked at Gogo's words. 

"What?! You're not happy with your own name so how can you say that!?"

She flapped a couple of papers at him. "Fred's been meeting people from time to time on patrol. Once we start doing it, I'm sure people would talk to us and we can tell them our true names. It's not like telling a journalist would help, none of the people talking about us are from the media. It's all bloggers and social media."

"Fine. I'll have a name picked out by the time Hiro's done with all our suits."

* * *

They all attended the groundbreaking ceremony for the new Krei Tech compound. As themselves of course, Hiro hadn't finished all their suits. And well, Baymax. Hard to be Big Hero 6 if you were only five people. 

Maybe he should just build a huge version of Megabot.

There were more people there then Hiro expected for a publicity stunt, but the whispers and conversations around them made him realize people had shown up on the off chance Big Hero 6 would accept Krei's invitation. The thought made him smile. 

Krei gave a speech, about overcoming the past, learning from mistakes, and building a brighter future. His eyes roved over the crowd and Hiro noted when Krei found their group. The business man found Wasabi first, hard to miss a tall black man, but then quickly locked eyes with Hiro.

Hiro hadn't seen Krei since the fight here November first. But he accurately remembered what the cop had said before interviewing them. _Mr. Krei has mentioned he knows where you're from if not your names._ Krei may not know the names of his friends, but the man was very familiar with Hiro.

Something in his eyes asked Hiro to stay and because Krei knew him and hadn't come knocking on the cafe door Hiro gave a slight nod. Krei returned it, turning it into a bow as he accepted a shovel before officially starting the construction work.

There were polite claps and journalists bunching up close to get a quote. Gogo tugged lightly on the back of Hiro's hoodie and he stepped back to remove themselves away from the crowd. 

"Public acknowledgment!" Fred bounced on his feet. "Very important for heroes, because if the people don't love you, you'll have cops on your tails or be forced to go into hiding."

"It does make me happy, knowing we saved people," Honey agreed. 

"Come on," Gogo said around a mouthful of gum. "Let's go get lunch."

"Actually..." Hiro drifted off and turned his head to look at Krei. The journalists had moved along, now filming themselves with construction crews in the background. Krei himself was talking to whom Hiro believed was his assistant, it certainly was the same guy he had been with at the showcase. "Mr. Krei kinda knows it was me. I think he wants to say something."

It was cute, in a sad, missing Tadashi way, how they all seemed to take a half shuffle towards him. Circling the wagon, if you would. 

"He knows you're Baby Bot?"

"Fred, that is not the name I'm going with. But yes, he does. And he hasn't done anything with that information. I really think he simply wants to thank me. Us. At this point, since we're all together, he probably knows its you guys too."

"He can be our mysterious benefactor!"

"Wait, what?" Wasabi turned to look at Fred.

"You know, who provides the gear and builds the secret hide out."

"I'm pretty sure I'm already providing gear and your house has a cave."

"Oh, then he can be like, the official on our side! Speaking good about us to the press and making sure we are never in difficult situations."

"He's already doing that," Honey pointed out.

Fred slumped his shoulders. "We'll fit him in somewhere."

"Hiro."

Hiro turned around, he hadn't realized Krei had walked up behind them. "Oh, hi Mr. Krei."

"Please, Alistar is fine after what you and your friends did for me. Or at least drop the  honorific."

"O-okay. "

"Took me a day or two to really understand it was you in that blue suit, and I'm assuming you all were in the others?" 

Krei looked from one student to the other. They all nodded.

"I wanted to thank you, personally, for saving my life last month. You didn't have to stop Robert. Or at least stop him from hurting me-"

"Yes I did."

Krei blinked at Hiro.

"I know when we met we got off on the wrong foot. That you don't really know me, and I don't know you. But my brother believed in helping people, all people, even those who might not deserve it." 

Like me, he thought, every time I didn't listen and go to a bot fight.

"Tadashi - Tadashi might be gone, but I liked his ideas of the future. Where people helped each other all the time, no matter what the circumstances. Even if, even if the chance was slim."

And really, he knew how devastating losing his brother to that fire was, but still entered into a portal of unknown to help save a stranger? He'd have to put some parameters on his actions in the future, he couldn't add to Aunt Cass's pain. 

"We started this group to help people. It might have just been to help us at first, but you have to start somewhere and now we want to help everyone we can."

Gogo's arm was around his shoulder as she leaned into him, Wasabi and Fred at his back. Honey didn't have the space to press close, but Hiro felt her hand on the back of his neck. 

Krei stared at him solemnly for a moment and then nodded gravely. 

"We all learned lessons recently, didn't we? I knew that Robert had been greatly affected by Silent Sparrow, and we had altered our procedures a little afterward, but we've taken bigger steps now. Ms. Callaghan, Robert's daughter, I've hired her to be my supervisor head. All tests only happen with her permission and she is very picky about how much data to gather and track."

"Can't say I blame her," Gogo said.

Krei nodded. "I'm making sure I don't have similar accidents, and she's helping me do that. We're making things better for future testers, helping those I can. I want to help you guys too. You seem set with gear, which I'm assuming you made with materials from SFIT. That won't last long term, the university monitors supplies closely if I recall. Let me help fund you. If helping you helps others, I'm eager to do it."

"Thank you, Mis-" Krei lifted and eyebrow and Hiro corrected himself. "Thank you _Krei,_ but we have the gear angle covered." 

The materials and work had come from a variety of places - money left by his parents, Fred, prize money from science competitions Hiro and Tadashi had won in the past, bot fights. They hadn't taken anything from SFIT. 

"Anything else that comes up then, anything you need help with, let me know."

"Of course, sir."

"I expect great things from all of you." Krei gave them all a fond smile, something Hiro wasn't sure Krei had the right to do. His smile reminded Hiro of Professor Callaghan's, a man who had made a career of helping people do their best. 

Then again, Callaghan had done the exact opposite at the end. 

Maybe Krei wasn't that bad. 

The older man nodded at each of them and then walked away, leaving Hiro and his friends staring at his back. 

"Come on, I'm hungry," Hiro said as he pulled himself out of his friends' grasps.

They all jumped, immediately asking him what he wanted. It took him awhile to understand where all the attention was coming from, but then he realized eating was still a rare thing for him. He didn't get hungry, but he knew he had to eat and so nibbled on what his friends or Aunt Cass put in front of him. Having actually asked for food...if that wasn't a sign of recovery Hiro didn't know what was. 

He absently suggested sushi, it wouldn't sit heavy in his stomach, and looked over his shoulder for Krei. The man was gone, most likely in the black car driving away, so Hiro followed it with his eyes. Krei may never know it, but by having Hiro say his thoughts out loud Krei had helped him greatly.

Hiro felt like instead of just a caterpillar roll, he could add a California and spider one to his order. Maybe some dumplings too, because suddenly he was starving and his fingers itched for a computer.

* * *

Hiro played commando, or general, or tech guy, depending on what Fred called him that day through the head gear. He liked to think of himself as the communication center, maybe a dispatcher, since that was what he did when he's friends went out patrolling. 

They didn't go out as a group, there was an unspoken rule about that. They were all part of Big Hero 6, but with two members down they never visibly did things collectively. No, they all patrolled on their own, sometimes crossing paths and sometimes not, while Hiro sat in the garage and talked to them through the radio. 

He had a police band running softly in the background all the time and when the GPS in their suits told Hiro a friend was close enough to help he told them where to go. 

Tonight was no exception. 

Hiro switched to a private channel, talking only to Wasabi. 

"Someone just called the police about a gunshot in a house near you."

"Yikes. Domestic?" 

Hiro pulled up Wasabi's visor and activated the map. Where the call originated from glowed red on Wasabi's HUD.

"Maybe? It's a residential area after all. Neighbor called about a gunshot, but that's all I've heard aside for the dispatch for a car."

Hiro absently tinkered with a new neural cranial transmitter. Now that his friends were out there, he was itching to join them. But first, he had to arm himself since Baymax was gone. It just made sense to multi-task, work on his new design while directing his friends around the city.

He kept an eye on Wasabi's tracker and an ear on the police scanner while he worked.

"Alright Baby Bot, I'm here."

"Ug! I told you not to call me that!"

"Then you better think of something better. And Head-Case is already taken by the Fred's Angel comic."

"I swear, if you weren't across the city right now-"

"Hush. I'm trying to figure out what apartment."

"It should be the same one as the caller, and thus the marker. She said it came from below."

"So first or second floor. Ar. I hate this, having to destroy locks to get to doors. Maybe you should give us all super jumps so we can skip the stairs."

"Actually~" He was working on hover technology on the side. His friends all had specified projects, something he'd have to draw up concepts for in his second year and start actually building by the start of  third at the earliest. But Hiro was a genius and always three steps ahead. He already knew what he wanted to work on building and improving while at SFIT. In fact, he had already started.

"I don't like that tone of voice, you sound like you're building something dangerous."

"Promise, it's not rocket boosters."

"It better not be!"

Hiro could hear knocking and then a door opening. "Shots were reported, is everyone alright?"

"Ano, yes. Sorry, it was an accident."

"What was?"

Hiro put down the transmitter he was working on and pulled up visuals on Wasabi's suit. The man had gently pushed himself into the apartment, scanning for trouble. There didn't seem to be any damage and the woman standing in the kitchen didn't look terrified like Hiro might have suspected if this was a domestic fight gone south. 

"Cool! A Big Hero!"

Wasabi turned around to see a small child peeking his head out from around a doorway. He took three steps towards the hero, but then looked to his parents for permission. Hiro got the impression he had been scolded recently. His dad crossed his arms and the boy froze in the center of the hallway.

"I kept a gun in our bedroom, I have a license I can even show you if you want, and Naota here thought it was a toy. He managed to slip the safety off and fire a shot. Thankfully, it just buried itself in our mattress. "

"Very fortunate. I'm glad no one was hurt."

"Me too," the father added. 

The mother walked over to Naota and placed a hand on his shoulder. "We were just teaching him that guns are not toys."

Wasabi crouched down to be at the boy's level, even though they were still half a room apart. "Listen to your parents, okay? Gun are very dangerous, and that's why you don't see me or my friends using them. "

Naota's mom pushed him forward and the boy took a few stumbling steps before running to Wasabi. His hands were all over the armor and Hiro snickered as a small hand took up half the view of the visor.

"Hey, hey, careful there. This stuff is expensive." Wasabi pried Naota off to hold him away at arm's length. "I'm serious, guns are dangerous. You should never touch them unless you know how to use them. It's like cars - you need a licenses to drive those, right? You need a license to have a gun too. Promise not to touch your dad's gun again?"

"Promise."

"Good. Now, since you're talking to a Big Hero, any questions?"

"What's your name?"

Hiro snickered. Wasabi had not picked a hero name either and this was the moment of choice. Whatever his friend said, it was going to be internet official in an hour.

"Guess."

"Bearclaw! Cuz you're big like a bear and have sharp claws!"

"Close enough, it's actually Grizzly."

"You totally just made that up now, didn't you? So you could say you picked a name yourself instead of a little kid?"

Wasabi didn't acknowledge Hiro's comment or snickers.

There was the sound of sirens, the cops that were actually responding to the neighbor's call.

"I gotta go," Wasabi said, standing up. 

"Can I have a photo first?"

"Sure."

They posed, Naota on Wasabi's shoulders while the mother took a photo on her phone. 

"Come on now, Naota. Bed time."

"Aww," the boy complained, but he went willingly enough.

The father turned to Wasabi. "Thank you, Grizzly, for helping my wife and I teach him that lesson."

"No problem. And try to find a different place for that gun."

The man nodded and Wasabi left the apartment. He got a few looks from the two officers walking up to the door, but they didn't stop him. 

Crisis averted, Hiro turned off the video and went back to working on the new and improved neural cranial transmitter. 

"So, Grizzly huh?"

"Oh, be quiet Baby Bot."

"No, no, I like it."

"Really?"

"Yes, Bear-man. It sorta fits you anyway. You can be a real fierce momma bear."

"Don't make me come over there!"

Hiro laughed. "Go back to your patrol, Grizzly. I'll let you know if anything else pops up."

* * *

As it was, Wasabi hadn't been the only one caught that night. Honey had been testing the new compounds in her purse in one of the Mission Bay warehouses when she had been happened upon a group of teens who insisted on multiple photos of them all. Gogo, well, Gogo had just spray painted a black lightning symbol on her helmet, posed for a photo with Fred, and then had Fred post it online.

The Internet pretty much blew up with official names to go by. 

"My name is Lightning, not Yellow Lightning."

"I didn't tell that kid it was Green Grizzly either!"

"I think it's cute, how they put colors in front of our names. After all, that's what we were originally named."

"You're okay with Pink Alchemist?" Gogo asked.

"Of course!"

"This, my friends, is why I picked out a name and used it before the public was aware of me."

Gogo looked ready to launch herself across the table at Fred and strangle him.

Hiro couldn't help but laugh and instantly all of them turned to look at him. Outright laughing was still new, for all of them though Hiro in particular, and its onset always brought about a sudden attention on the laughter followed by soft smiles all around. 

This, this was what Hiro was thankful for. Friends with shared interests, slowly moving on from a trauma by letting little bits of normality and goodness happen without feeling the taint of loss. This made him feel good, happy. As if things were starting to move in the right direction and the aftermath of battle was starting to shrink. 

"You still haven't told us what name you're thinking of, Hiro." Honey leaned forward on the couch towards him.

Hiro chuckled and put down the tablet he was coding on. "I have some ideas, but I want to finish my suit first. No point getting ahead of yourself."

"And what's all this code got to do with it?" Wasabi asked, craning his neck to see. 

Hiro made it easier for him and just passed him the device. "I don't like how my microbots can be used by just anyone. That's just asking for abuse, as we saw, so I'm trying to put in a fail safe."

Wasabi looked at his work and shook his head. "Man, I've never been good at code. I didn't go into computer engineering for a reason." 

He passed it over to Honey and Gogo pressed in to read over her shoulder. Fred, perfectly aware he didn't know much beyond basic HTML for forum posts, leaned back on the large stool he was sitting on and looked at Hiro.

"What's the fail safe? Oh! You could hard wire it into your brain, like Dr. Java!"

"He's not doing that!" 

"Hiro, don't you dare!"

Hiro snickered at the girls' comments. "I'm not stupid enough to put untested tech in my head. Besides, surgery like that would have to involve Aunt Cass since I'm a minor and telling her I need an implant to telekineticly control robots to fight bad guys would not go over well at all."

"I'm glad you know better." Wasabi said, though Fred just looked disappointed. Hiro had a feeling that the Head-Case character in his comic would be upgrading to a brain implant in the next issue or so. 

"Well, I did think about implants here." Hiro stuck out his arms and ran a finger first up his left wrist and then up his right. "Easy to insert and remove myself, if the tech needed improvement, but-" he rushed when he saw Gogo start to glower, "I didn't because I figured it would be too limiting. I'd have to create an interface using gestures, and that's not always practical."

"So what are you doing instead?" Gogo asked.

"A thought lock. Hopefully. We'll see if it works."

"A what?" Honey asked.

"A thought lock," Fred answered. "You know, like the password for the BOX on Mr. What?"

Hiro liked to think he was somewhat of a fanboy and could keep up with Fred, but this one lost him.

"You know, the old series from like, 10 years ago? Did none of you watch it as a kid."

"No~o." Wasabi said and turned his attention back to Hiro.

"Well, like Fred said it's sorta like a password. The neuro cranial unit can read thoughts pretty well, it has to in order to get the microbots to do everything they can, so I'm using a series of thoughts, specifically a memory and my thoughts around it, as a password. The unit won't give commands to the microbots until I give it the mental password."

"Hiro, that's genius!" Honey jumped from her seat on the couch and moved around the coffee table to kiss him on both cheeks. "Imagine how many uses that can have! Who needs a biometric scanner when you can think a door open!"

"Well, for one, biometrics are a lot cheaper right now. And smaller. This unit is taking up most of my helmet and I'm sure people aren't going to want to wear bulky headgear just to-" he cut off as Honey gave him a hug.

"Hiro, you're fourteen. You'll figure it out eventually, I'm sure. Give it ten years and we'll be using your neuro cranial unit instead of keypads."

He pulled back and smiled at her. "That would be something, wouldn't it?"

* * *

It felt weird, being here again, but Krei had shipped the microbots he had found in the building ruins to the SFIT lab and the nerds there had pushed it into Tadashi's old lab space. It was bare now, most of the items from it still boxed up and in Wasabi's front closet. Hiro supposed he should actually pick them up. Neither he nor Aunt Cass had been willing to collect the boxes when the university first cleared out the room and Wasabi had taken them to his house for safekeeping. 

Currently, the lab was not unused, but not locked. Clean desks and empty bookcases. There had been no new students worthy of a private office, and while Hiro knew logically there was a good chance that it would be assigned to a second year student come the new semester he hoped the grant he had in submission would be enough to earn it himself. 

First year, second year, he wasn't entirely sure what position he'd have in the college hierarchy when he started in January but already he had a feeling he would graduate early. Unless he double majored and Hiro wasn't ruling that out.

Today the office was getting a rare visit from students. The boxes of microbots had sat untouched for a few weeks, but now Fred and Honey were cutting the tape and opening the flaps.

Final exams were done, holiday music was playing outside, and the campus was essentially deserted. It was the perfect time to test Hiro's new transmitter. 

"You ready?" Gogo asked around a bubblegum snap.

Hiro nodded. His friends had been patrolling on a somewhat regular schedule for a few weeks now and Hiro's desire to join them was rising. What he had told Krei kept resonating in his mind - to help people, to carry on Tadashi's goals - but he was going to do it his way now because Tadashi and Baymax were gone so he had to. It was a tough, heavy burden, but the people around him helped lesson it. 

That's what friends were for after all.

"Yeah, let's do this." Hiro slipped his helmet onto his head. 

Hiro didn't need to, but he closed his eyes to pull up the memory he had recorded patterns of earlier that would act as the password for his mind-lock. His friends had asked a few times what he had chosen, but Gogo had pushed the questions back. Hiro suspected that she thought of similar things when donning her own gear.

Tadashi.

Hiro had finally gotten up the courage to ask her about her and Tadashi. And she had responded only after popping three bubbles. 

"We went on a date, once, towards the end of last year, but never had much time for a second one. You started to really work on your project and Tadashi was so eager to help. And then he dragged us into it as well, and if we were spending time together I was happy. Like you said before, we had similar goals. We clicked well. When I'm skating through the streets, sometimes I can feel him there beside me."

"Yeah, I felt the same way about Baymax."

It wasn't those memories and feelings Hiro brought up now however, thoughts of saving the world and flying with a robot with Tadashi in his brain.

No, his memory was about taking out Baymax's chip. About giving him the order to destroy. About ruining his brother's work and almost becoming an antitheses to Tadashi's dreams. It scared Hiro how close he had come to that, it would always scare him, and so he had set the mind lock to be his hindsight reflection of that moment on Akuma Island. That moment of realization _this is what I could have become and what I vow never to._

There was nothing to signal if the mind lock worked or not, so Hiro had to find out if he thought the right thing by giving a command to the microbots. He waved a hand at them in a completely unnecessary gesture, more for his friends' benefit than his, and when he heard their small gasps and noises of delight he opened his eyes. 

Growing out of the four boxes in the center of the room was a tree, groups of microbots from each box wrapping around each other to form a trunk before splitting up to form bare branches. 

Gogo thumped him on his back, his hair was covered so she couldn't ruffle it. "Way to go, Hiro."

"It works!" Fred threw his arms out to the tree, face grinning. "You're a genius, Hiro."

"Like you didn't know that already." Honey beamed at him, face proud, and for her benefit he had the microbots form a 3D sugar molecule.

"Now, all you need is a name and you can come out with us tonight. Unless Baby-Bot's been growing on you," Wasabi said.

"Ha. Ha." Hiro placed a hand on his hip. "I've actually thought of one so I don't say the first thing that comes to mind when a kid asks me."

"Yeah, what is it?" Gogo asked.

"Phoenix." 

Professor Callaghan had been Yokai, a ghost who withered away as grief turned him and ate at him, corrupting the memories of his daughter until they were a fuel for acts that turned him less and less human. Tadashi's death had almost done the same to Hiro, but he vowed to use his grief as a stepping stone, the start of a transformation to a better person. Tadashi had died in a fire, taking the old, young Hiro with him and emerging from the ashes of metal and childhood was a stronger creature.

The criminals of San Fransokyo would never know what hit them.

* * *

There hadn't been any crime to stop that night, not that they had gone looking for it. Instead they had reveled in each other's presence as they patrolled as a group for the first time. Gogo raced along the streets below, Fred jumped from roof to roof, Honey and Wasabi behind him thanks to pink globs, and Hiro riding a mini wave of micobots behind Gogo. 

It was the first time Hiro felt like his old self, surrounded by friends with a smile on his face. There were a few differences of course, he was missing two important people in his life, and there had been internal changes too. He felt powerful, he felt directed. He had a mission in life that he was just starting to realize would propel him until he died. Hiro was a better person, a stronger one. And he was surrounded by people who felt the same way.

When they stopped at the roof of the Lucky Cat Cafe to drop him off after running through the city, they all wore large grins. 

"Photo, photo!" Honey insisted and then all crowded together while Hiro used the microbots to hold up her phone and snap a few shots. 

One of them, Fred would post online and social media would explode around it with a momentum that lead to an interview with Krei about the group. The others, with them in various states of undress and trying to give Hiro a noogie through his helmet, would sit in encrypted folders on their devices for all time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, kinda curious, thoughts on the in-story author notes with the hovers?


	3. Normal Reminders

Hiro had fond memories of Christmas. Everyone in the city celebrated it, regardless of religion or ethnicity. It was too much a part of the city's culture not too. 

Aunt Cass wasn't very religious, but she was ethnically American and raised Hiro and Tadashi in a similar environment. Tadashi had been the one to insist on Japanese ceremonies and holiday celebrations when they were young, unwilling to give up ties to their parents and Cass had done her best to give them an understanding of both. 

This meant that Christmas was not so much a time for family as it was for friends. New Years, all of them, was when you gathered together around the dinner table. 

Tadashi always had somewhere to be, he was much more popular that Hiro had ever been, and Christmas had always ended up being Hiro alone with Aunt Cass doing something festive as they enjoyed the day just the two of them. Sometimes, one of Aunt Cass's friends would be there, children in tow, and Hiro had enjoyed a rare day of play where he hadn't been teased and picked on due to his school situation. 

This year, as they walked round the Ferry Building and waited for their skate time at the Futo Center, marveling at the lights and making fun of tourists, they couldn't quite shake the knowing of Tadashi not having a good time with friends somewhere else. He wasn't enjoying himself, spending the night with a friends, and showing up the next morning. Tadashi was gone.

It made the holiday a little depressing, but Hiro was thankful there was nothing in his and Aunt Cass's normal holiday routine that brought his brother to mind. Tadashi was already humming near the top of his brain today, no reason to make it worse. 

It hadn't struck him to think about the people Tadashi had usually spent Christmas with the past two years. Their traditions were a off kilter too. 

Hiro jumped in shock when he cell phone went off and Cass seemed surprised too. Hiro having regular friends was something they were both getting used to, and they had never been disturbed on Christmas aside from Tadashi's updates and sometimes random photos.

He dug his phone out of his pocket and showed the display to Aunt Cass. Gogo's face filled the screen.

"Go ahead, answer it."

"But it's Christmas, our day." And he was okay feeling a little melancholy today. It was Christmas and he missed his brother. 

"It's still our day, and they're your friends. At the very least, you can tell them Merry Christmas."

He hit accept and brought the phone to his ear. 

"Hiro, where are you?"

"Uh,..walking Futo with Aunt Cass. Why?"

"I told you we should have called ahead!" Hiro heard Wasabi whine in the background.

"We're at the cafe, we wanted to come spend Christmas with you."

"Oh." Hiro looked at Cass, who gave him a questioning look. "I'm with my aunt, we signed up to go ice skating at the Futo Center."

There was a pause at the end and then a few muffled voices and sounds. Hiro suspected Gogo had covered the receiver and was talking to the others. 

There was a shout and then Fred's voice came over the line. "Can we join you?"

Hiro glanced at Cass then pointed at his phone and then the ice rink behind her. She gave him a thumbs up. Still, Hiro wasn't too sure. He wanted time with Aunt Cass, Christmas tradition and all that, and with him due to start school next month he knew their time together was going to diminish soon. They had however signed up for two back to back skate times. His friends could come join them for the second one.

"Sure, meet you on the ice at 5."

"Awesome. See you then Baby-Bot," Fred called before hanging up.

Hiro rolled his eyes at the name and Cass placed a hand on her hip. "Fred named you Baby-Bot?"

"Ug, don't start." Hiro dropped the phone in his pocket.

"Aren't you going to tell me where it came from?"

"Um..."Actually, Hiro wasn't sure himself where it came from. Cuz he was the baby of the group? Used to ride around on Baymax's back like an African child? He was a short bot builder? Some play on the Baby Hero name people online had originally given him? "Because of my mircobots. They're like, baby robots. I think. I've never been able to understand Fred's thought process completely."

"Your friends coming to join us then?"

"Yeah, but later. I wanted to spend more time with just you." Hiro pressed himself into her side and Aunt Cass wrapped an arm around him. He didn't care they were in public, the tight squeeze and kiss to the top of his head made him feel special and loved. 

"Come on, little man, we got a bit of time before we can lace up a pair of skates. Let's grab a bite from the bacon truck and then watch people make fools of themselves."

* * *

Two days after Christmas, Aunt Cass called up the stairs the Hiro had mail. That in itself was rare. Most communications nowadays was delivered electronically. This was either classified, super important where the sender believed he'd want a paper copy, or an advert Cass thought he'd have a high interest in.

"Who's it from?" he shouted back down.

"The university!"

That caught his attention. Hiro put down the magnetic repulsers he was working on and thumped his way down the stairs. When he arrived at the cafe level, Cass gave him a look and he sheepishly realized the cafe hadn't been empty as he had thought it was thanks to his aunt's shout up the stairs. He slipped behind the counter and picked up the envelop while Cass grabbed a scone for the guy at the register, chatting away.

Hiro ripped the paper and read over the letter a few time, wrinkles appearing on his forehead. He had been checking his e-mail constantly, waiting for some type of communication on this subject, but certainly not this.

"What's it say?" Cass pressed against him and read over his shoulder. "Hey! Why didn't you tell me you applied for a scholarship? That's awesome Hiro!" 

She pressed a kiss to his temple and then quickly turned to the door as the bell above it chimed.

Hiro hadn't told Cass about applying to a scholarship at SFIT because he hadn't. Sure, he had one from the showcase. But it had only reduced tuition by a couple thousand and he had been expecting to get a bill with payment options. Not to be rewarded the 'Kyuseishu Scholarship for students whose work focuses on helping others.' He didn't have any public projects in the works, nothing the scholarship committee could have used to analyze to determine his qualifications. Unless they used his grant request? He had filled it with a professor's help, but he hadn't heard anything from the NSF yet. 

Aunt Cass wrangled him into helping serve, the lunch crowd was starting to come in, but when he pulled out his phone three hours later he noticed the group conversation between the five of them had forty six new messages. He opened them and started quickly scrolling through them, stunned to realize Gogo, Wasabi, and Honey had also received a letter today saying congratulations on receiving the Kyuseishu Scholarship which covered the rest of their tuition. 

It took awhile for Hiro's Japanese to tune in, he'd only ever learned because Tadashi forced him to and rarely used words outside of general conversation with elderly cafe patrons. Kyuseishu. Savior.

 _Let me help fund you._ Alistar Krei's voice echoed in Hiro's head and he groaned. They had refused money for their heroics, and so the executive had set up a scholarship account to fund their schooling. In secret, so they couldn't complain and refuse again.

Hiro was a little impressed by the sneakiness and touched by the gesture. Krei hadn't approached any of them about this, he didn't want anything in return. No employment contract. No thanks. No patent rights. He just wanted to help in anyway he could.

Everyone who had been involved in that November 1st battle seemed to have come out changed for the better. 

Hiro debated letting his friends know, would they feel a pressure to do something with the knowledge? He could see Wasabi insisting, his focus on rules and regulations would certainly make him write a thank-you card at least, but Hiro wasn't sure if Krei wanted to be known for his generosity. It's not like they had all gotten a 'Krei Scholorship for promising students'. 

Instead, he added to the conversation by saying he'd gotten it too and wasn't it awesome that they had won it? It certainly deserved a celebratory chai tea latte on Aunt Cass.

* * *

Hiro supposed someone up there, Christian or Shinto, was smiling at him. Or trying to make up for the grey cloud that had hung around most of the holiday season that marked the first of many without Tadashi. 

Not only had he succeeding in building a mind-lock and rejoined the hero business, he didn't have to worry about tuition costs for however long he was at SFIT, and now officially had won the grant. 

Which was apparently newsworthy, seeing he was fourteen and hadn't actually started at SFIT yet. The newspapers didn't care if approval for the grant meant the money was coming in a few months and not now, meaning Hiro hadn't done anything for it yet, they still wanted to sit him down on a chair in the SFIT lab and interview him.

"So, tell me Hiro, how's it feel to be a genius?"

What type of question was that? He looked to his friends and Anut Cass standing behind the light for some sort of direction but all he got were variations of thumbs up, nods, and the sharp snap of bubblegum. No help there.

"Normal? I've never not been one so..."

"Tell us about your grant."

"Well, it's from the National Science Foundation from funds set aside-"

"I meant, what project will you be working on with the money?"

Oh. Well that was embarrassing. 

"Personal companions. There's a lot of people out there who suffer from loneliness, or depression, or even mental illness that can benefit from company. You hear about people bonding with their pets all the time, and also those with disabilities getting help from animals. But not everyone has pets, you know?"

He absently realized he had been waving his arms around as he talked and sheepishly returned them to his lap. The journalist smiled at him and gestured for him to continue.

"Not everyone can take care of them too, you have to remember to feed them and there's expensive vet bills, lease restrictions, so I'm going to build robot cat and dogs. They'll be able to to provide comfort to people and help with household tasks - retrieve items, basic cleaning, keep track of things - and connect to the city data network to contact emergency services if they're needed. I'm also hoping to give them medical scanners, so they can detect if someone is sick or injured and in need of emergency care."

"All very impressive. Where'd you get the idea from?"

Everything seemed to be connected to Tadashi nowadays, didn't it. Well, at least if he brought up his brother Hiro had some semblance of control over the conversation.

"My brother, actually. He was," his breath hitched but Hiro glanced quickly at his supportive friends and family and continued, "He was amazing, he was working on a robot health care companion that would be able to diagnosis and treat all sorts of illness. It had a pretty advanced AI too; able to take note of patient preferences, notice gaps in his programming and seek to fill them, learn."

Hiro sighed, slightly depressed now that he was thinking of both Tadashi and Baymax. 

"Tadashi had a prototype at home, it's no longer working, but after...after the fire I realized how much better having a companion, even robotic, made me feel. I probably wouldn't be starting at SFIT come the new semester without him."

Hiro wouldn't be a lot of things without Baymax. He wouldn't be a student, he wouldn't be getting this grant, or have such wonderful friends, or have experienced flight, or be a hero. So much of how his life was now hinged on that one day following Baymax out of the house and to the warehouse. 

"So, I wanted to do something that would make my big brother proud. And I think this is it."

He smiled at the journalist, who smiled softly in return just before a flash blinded him. It wouldn't end up being the photo the newspaper ran, but Aunt Cass would still get a copy and stick it in the family album. 

"Thank you Hiro, that sums up my questions. But if I could ask the rest of you some?"

"Of course!" Fred bounded forward and Hiro slipped off the chair he had been sitting on to give to his friend.

Hiro made his way over where the others were standing. Cass wasted no time in scooping him up into a hug that Honey joined in from the other side. Wasabi and Gogo just watched, the former grinning and the latter with her typical flat face.

"I'm proud of you Hiro," Aunt Cass said as she loosened her arms. "And I know Tadashi is too."

"Thanks."

"Mr. Hamada?"

Hiro looked over to see Professor Parrish and another teacher standing in the doorway to the lab. Hiro didn't know if they had seen his interview or not and he found himself slightly embarrassed at the thought that maybe they had. It was one thing saying things to a stranger and having people who knew and understood listen in, but people whom he only sorta knew and would have to see on a regular basis? 

"Can we speak to you?"

"Sure." Hiro detangled himself from everyone and made his way over. Professor Parrish had after all been the one to help Hiro apply for the grant and as Callaghan's replacement was not only Hiro's assigned mentor but the new head of the robotics department. 

"Mr. Hamada, this is Dr. Jason Arakawa. He'll be another one of your professors when you start and more importantly the assistant head. We've been talking about you, your situation is highly unusual in that you are approved to start work on your personal project, and so have decided to assign you lab space now instead of waiting till next year."

"Thank you, professors."

Honestly, Hiro had expected this. How was he supposed to use his grant money when it came in if he didn't have a corner in the common lab? There was a new space open across the room from Honey since someone had graduated and it would be nice working close to his friends in an official capacity. He didn't need a lot of space, not yet, until the money came in he couldn't _officially_ build things, but someplace to tinker and design would be nice. Not that there was anything wrong with the garage, or the rough bot he had there already, but there was so much energy in the air at SFIT. Hiro wanted to be amongst it.

"We also hope it won't cause too much trouble, but we assigned you to your brother's old personal lab. There weren't many free ones at the start of the semester. Is that okay?"

Was that okay? Hiro felt the corner of his eyes fill with tears but they didn't drop.

"Yeah. It's okay. It's more than I expected. I, thank you." 

Hiro bowed deeply to both men and they took a step back, startled, but returned the motion. Maybe it was a bit much, bowing, this wasn't a formal or ceremonial occasion. However, Hiro couldn't think of anything else on such short notice to show his gratitude. 

His own lab! Tadashi's! The birthplace of Baymax, his brother's second home, and the reawakening of himself as Phoenix. A place of brilliant feats, of trial and errors, of success. What better place to start his own project, building upon that room's history?

 _Tadashi would be proud,_ he could hear Aunt Cass in his head saying. She'd said it few time to him in the growing weeks, as he opened up to her about his projects and desires, including Big Hero 6. Hiro had shrugged it off, thinking it was something she was simply saying, but today, now, he very much believed it. There was the ghost presence of a hand on his shoulder and when Hiro stood straight he was smiling. 

"I'm glad it won't be a problem," Parriah smiled at him. "Now, I do believe I was asked to sit for a few questions too. I'll see you next week, Mr. Hamada."

Arakawa gave one last look to Hiro. "I look forward to seeing you in class. I was impressed you passed all the exams for the one hundred courses last semester without attending lectures."

"Haven't you heard? Hiro's a genius." Gogo walked up beside and cocked a hip.

Hiro's face flushed.

"Hmm. Yes." He nodded his head and walked down the hall.

"Everything okay?" Gogo asked.

"Yeah, better than that actually. I got my own lab, Tadashi's old one."

"Good. That means we don't have to clear out our stuff in there."

Hiro laughed. There wasn't much in the office. Little tools and parts, one of Fred's boards. The microbots were all stashed at his house, aside from the small container Hiro carried around in his back pack. Who knew when they would be needed and Hiro had a second transmitter he could stick in his hair. He really needed to look into classes at Tadashi's old dojo.

"You guys will have to help me move things in first you know."

"Of course. Come on, we're almost done in there and Wasabi apparently has a level in his fridge at his place filled with sushi he made for us."

"Perfect."

* * *

Hiro started bringing small things to the office at first - books, lamps, photos of his brother, Aunt Cass, and his friends. Tadashi's old hat he kept hanging on the lamp, it ended up being a perfect place for his second transmitter. It didn't take long before the small place had acquired blueprints on the walls, granola wrappers, and tools Gogo borrowed from Wasabi only to accidentally leave on Hiro's desk. 

The first weekend after school started, the gang helped him move Tadashi's old stuff from Wasabi's place to the lab. There was more boxes and less then Hiro thought there should be. More, because what in the world was in all of them. And less, because this was some of the few things left from Tadashi and his brother had made a much bigger impact on the world then just a few cardboard boxes. 

There were also a few things from Hiro's garage lab he had Wasabi bring over and after lunch in the cafeteria his friends took off. 

"You sure you don't want us to help you Hiro?" Honey asked. 

"Nah. I appreciate it, but I wanna go through Tadashi's stuff myself."

"Okay."

"Let me know if you stay past seven. I'll come pick you up." Gogo offered. 

"I will."

With a wave, they were out the door and Hiro was left standing at the door to his brother's - his - personal lab at SFIT.

It still felt rather cool to say he had a personal lab at SFIT.

Hiro knelt down next to a box and opened it. He supposed it was somewhat fitting that he just happened to open the box with Baymax's arm armor. Hiro had originally placed it beside the shrine to Tadashi in his room, but the sight of it had not only made me feel more depressed but overshadowed his brother's photograph. Instead, he had packed it gently in a box of robotic parts Tadashi had worked on. It would have been a shame to get rid of those bits and pieces, they ideas had so much potential. 

And so, they had ended up here.

Smiling softly, Hiro lifted the fist and walked over to set it on top of the low bookshelf near the window. It wasn't taking away from the presence of something else now, and after the nearly two months it had been packed away Hiro found himself looking at the piece of technology with fond thoughts instead of the type that made his chest hurt.

Tadashi was gone. Baymax was gone. But the world still went on and Hiro had found a new place for himself. He wasn't 'Tadashi's little brother' or 'Baymax's patient' anymore, thought he still wished he could define himself as such sometimes. Now he was Hiro Hamada aka Phoenix, youngest genius ever to attend SFIT.

Remembering good times, Hiro fisted bumped the armor and pulled it back for an explosion. "Ba-la-lala."

The finger plating rattled. That was new. It had been so cold through the portal, arctic really, that the fingers had frozen stiff and Hiro had never been able to move them. Turning back to look at the carbon fiber fist Hiro spotted a bit of green.

A jolt of electricity went through him and Hiro hurried to pry the fingers further apart. There, in Baymax's discarded fist, was Tadashi's original programming chip. Hiro stared at it for a full minute, incomprehensibly, and then slowly picked it up. Inside the portal he hadn't seen Baymax take out his chip, but he must have. Thinking of Hero and his needs to the very end, knowing that Baymax's own loss so close to Tadashi's would have destroyed Hiro. That the only thing that _had_ saved the teen was friends who hadn't been around the first time, it had only been Baymax, who had died in Tadashi fashion but then ensured _he wouldn't be completely gone._

Because now, now Hiro could rebuild him. He had his brother's blueprints, he had the stored files on the university's servers where Baymax had uploaded his memories - the last one being before the final flight. The important, irreplaceable competent of Baymax had been the coding and Tadashi knew it so he didn't have a cloud backup claiming it a secret. Coding that now sat in Hiro's hand. 

Some inner part of him filled up, another part seemed to get wider and more painful. Baymax would make a reappearance in a way Tadashi never would. 

It had been months, there was no real reason for the tears. He had cried so much before, and the pain of grief had been a constant feeling for so long. Hiro was getting used to it, recovering if the brief moments with his friends where he didn't think about his deceased brother could be considered as such. There was no reason for the tears to fall now.

And yet they did. 

For hours. 

Tears of happiness and loss and pain and joy and relief and sadness and many more emotions as they swirled inside his chest and leaked out in salty droplets. 

When they stopped, it was half past six. Hiro didn't feel like being alone so he called Gogo to pick him and take him home. She ignored the faint shimmer of dried tear tracks one his cheeks, focused on the green drive in his hand, and pulled him into a quick sideways hug. 

He leaned into it, wanting to talk and not wanting to, exhausted from crying and excited to get started on rebuilding Baymax. 

Hiro's body won out. He had vague recollections of Gogo helping him up the stairs to his room but didn't remember his friend tucking him in and ruffling his hair. Hiro woke up early and rushed through breakfast, but the rest of the the group was up early and waiting for him down stairs.

It was wonderful to have friends who understood without having to say a word.

* * *

"Hiro? Hiro, sweetie, wake up."

He grumbled something intelligible even to his own mind and shifted away from the hand on his shoulder.

"Hiro, if you're going to sleep the garage is not the place for it."

"Aunt Cass?"

"Hiro, this is the third night in a row you've slept down here and I'm determined to get you into a proper bed tonight. Look at you, you're so exhausted you didn't even take your armor off."

He was too sleepy to complain and she lifted one of his hands and took off first the glove and then the gauntlet. Hiro simply watched, head on his other elbow and eyes half closed. 

"What are you even working on all the time down here? You haven't been this focused since building those microbots for the showcase."

Hiro winced. He had never woken up super refreshed after sleeping in the garage. This morning had been no exception. 

"Hiro," Cass said with a shoulder shove that had his eyes snap open. "What are you working on?"

Ug, he just wanted to sleep. Did Aunt Cass have to talk so much?

She pulled on his other hand and Hiro let her have it, grudgingly pulling his torso up off the desk to flop bonelessly against the chair.

"If this is all for school, you don't have to go patrolling you know."

"Yes I do," he mumbled. He couldn't tell if the look on his aunt's face meant tell-me-more or I-understand-but-it-doesn't-excuse-your-actions. Or maybe you're-stupid-of-course-not. But he did have to do it, patrol. Being Phoenix of the Big Hero team was so central to his self now for so many reasons. It was freedom. It was a purpose. It was a way to bring about Tadashi's dream, to help. To connect with his friends. To feel immortal, just for a minute, and know that if something did happen to him there would be a bit of a legacy to leave behind.

Hiro tried to convey all this in a look at Cass, but he wasn't sure she understood. She simply shook her head and with a fond huff started undoing his shoulder pads. 

"You gonna help me get you out of this?" 

He slowly reached a hand across his chest to reach the clasps on his other shoulder. His sleep deprived eyes made things funny and his fingers were moving slow to the point that Cass had not only removed his other shoulder pad, but also his chest and back plates before he was finished. 

Hiro woke up a little as they made their way into the house and up the stairs to the third floor. 

"Awake enough to tell me what project you're working on now?"

"Three," he slurred, stumbling over a step.

"Three projects?"

He gave a sleepy nod. Wasabi was complaining about how hard it was to keep up with everyone else, and so Hiro was trying to incorporate some sort of propulsion into his suit. Then there were his personal companions, which he was calling Mochibots, that really he was just designing and building functional prototypes of because he had to do something now that his grant got such public notice. Third, and most important, was building Baymax. Hiro wanted to get them all done as soon as possible, but, he thought as Aunt Cass allowed him to half way fall into bed and then rolled the rest of him onto the covers, it was getting to the point where he couldn't do much more for Baymax using his personal supplies. He needed access to what the university had. Would they let him was the question, because Baymax totally wasn't his project and Hiro had every intention of not showing him off (this version anyway) and instead use him as a flying friend again. 

"Professor Perriah wouldn't like that," he mumbled into his pillow.

"What was that?" Cass asked. Hiro meant to answer her, really he did, but the pillow was so comfy.

* * *

"How's it coming?" Wasabi asked, poking his head into Hiro's lab. 

Hiro didn't bother looking up from where he was using a multi-tool to put together a joint. 

"Pretty good. I have all the parts now, I'm so glad the university allowed me to work on two projects, and now I just have to put him together."

"Sometimes you frighten me."

"Why?" Hiro paused in what he was doing to look at his friend.

"Because we're all nerds but none of us would have been able to rebuild Baymax as fast as you. On top of your other projects."

"I have Tadashi's schematics."

"And designed and built two other projects from scratch. In a month. As well as come with us at night. Do you ever sleep?"

"Oh course I do!" Hiro blushed, acutely aware of when Aunt Cass had helped him to bed three weeks prior and then scolded him fiercely the next morning. He was fourteen and needed sleep to stay healthy. He also had to stop missing dinner. They had compromised by Cass bringing him dinner to the garage and Hiro starting to turn things off at 1:30 am. And now that Baymax was being built in at the university, he wasn't so crazed at home. 

Hiro also was unable to turn his brain off. He kept doodling designs and figuring out the math for them on his lecture notes. And any other paper he had handy. He had nearly had a panic attack when his aunt had snagged the paper he was sketching on to wrap up a costumer's sandwich until he remembered he had a phone and could take a picture of it.

Plus, the Mochibot was really rough. It might act and move like a real cat, but he hadn't even started on anything other than movement protocols in it's code.

"Uh-huh." Wasabi didn't look like he believed Hiro's claim of getting sleep but he didn't press. 

"The rest of us were thinking of not suiting up tonight."

"Why?" Hiro lived for the nights. The feel of power as he moved along the microbots, the sense of doing good, of being part of something great. 

"You haven't seen the news yet, have you?"

"No...is something wrong?"

"Not really." Wasabi pulled up a news article on his phone and then turned it around to show the screen to Hiro. 

Hiro snatched the screen when he realized there was a large photo of his brother. His eyes stayed on the photo for a moment, it was the same one used at the funeral and in the shrine in the house, and Hiro resisted the impulse to run his finger over Tadashi's face. Instead he turned his attention to the text.

It was about the new hall SFIT was building. The showcase had taken place in the special exhibit hall and while most the the building's structure had remained intact the inside had needed a lot of work. It had taken ages just to classify all the wreckage within and separate one showcase tech from another to return to their owners. Add to that the school taking the chance to update and redesign the building, it had taken awhile for the new construction to be underway.

But that wasn't what the article was about, though the situation was briefly mentioned. No, the school had announced that SFIT was going to rename the building Tadashi Hamada Hall.

Hiro put down the phone and stared at the half complete skeleton of Baymax in front of him. 

"Hiro?" Wasabi came to sit down next to him. "You okay?"

Hiro shook off the memories at the edge of his mind. Of presenting his microbots in that building. Of standing in front of it, watching Tadashi run inside, seeing the explosion force its way out moments before the heat hit his skin and the blast threw him back, and slowly lifting his head to realize his brother had been inside and most likely was not going to walk out. Of someone pulling him away from the heat, where Aunt Cass found him minutes later only to have her practically thrust Hiro towards a newly arrived EMT.

"Yeah. It's an honor, have a building named after you. I think Tadashi would be happy. And I'm happy for him."

"He deserves it," Wasabi added. Hiro leaned sideways to place his head on the black man's shoulders and Wasabi let him. 

Hiro stared at their faint reflection in the window. Two students superimposed on a warm March day, the Golden Torii Park outside. It was sunny, but chilly from what Hiro remembered from the morning. It was a normal day - for him, for Wasabi, for a lot of people. And yet the reminder of Tadashi's loss was rising slowly and spoiling it. 

Seeing himself leaning on Wasabi's shoulder was grounding in it's strange way.

Wasabi shifted and freed an arm to wrap it around Hiro. Hiro buried into his friend's side a little bit and then looked up at him.

"How's Tadashi getting a building named after him make you guys not want to suit up tonight?"

"We used to always go to this ramen place with your brother, you know he loved that, but we haven't been there since August." Wasabi sighed and turned so he was facing Hiro. He looked serious.

"Personally, I didn't feel up to going there without Tadashi, too many memories. And the others felt the same. But when I saw this article, sadness wasn't the first thing that struck me. I was...happy, I guess, for Tadashi."

Hiro nodded. He understood a little bit. While his first thought hadn't been happiness on his brother's behalf, it hadn't been the overwhelming urge to cry either. Things were getting easier, he supposed. He felt as if his thoughts and feelings relating to Tadashi were less on a hair trigger now, he was less likely to feel tears pool in the corner of his eyes compared to last August. 

If Tadashi was alive today, he'd want to celebrate such an honor. First with his friends and then with his family. And so that's exactly what Hiro would do in his place.

"You want to go to the ramen place to remind yourselves of good times. I want to come too."

"Of course! It's about time we showed you the place anyway."

* * *

Hiro sighed and looked at the covered skeleton in the corner of the lab. Professor Parrish and he had drawn up a timeline back in late November for the grant and his mentor was insisting Hiro stick to it. No matter how much Hiro wanted to put down the Mochibot leg and continue on Baymax's frame. 

He supposed this was a sign of growing up, of putting aside what you wanted to do for something you had to do. Sadly, that line of thought wasn't kind to Mochibot. The electronic cat companion was something dear to Hiro's heart with all it would capable of doing and all the things it represented. Hiro's first step towards fulfilling the potential Tadashi had seen in him. He had no desire to let down Tadashi, or himself or Professor Parrish, but that still didn't stop his fingers from itching to sew some vinyl patches together. 

With a sigh, Hiro put down the robotic leg. He was pretty close to finishing the low grade thrusters in the paw, it was just a matter of making sure things were in place and tight. He could take a small break and work on Baymax's coding. 

Hiro rolled his chair to the other computer and double clicked his brother's drive. It had taken him awhile to figure out Tadashi's code and then more time to decided just what exactly he wanted to tinker with. Just the essentials, he told himself. Too many modifications could lead to another incident like the one where Baymax's eyes turned red and Hiro didn't want that to happen. Baymax was Tadashi's robot and Tadashi's robot he would stay for the most part. He just needed a few upgrades to keep up with the rest of the team. 

Gogo and Honey Lemon approved all his upgrades, Wasabi not to happy to read anything about more flying and Fred's ideas too extreme. They had settled on a lot of changes to the armor, more control over the thrusters, bigger magnets for Hiro to lock on to, hidden places for handy tools. To Baymax himself however the adjustments had been minor and in accordance to Tadashi's goals for him: a new trauma care database in case they got hurt, materials to help with those treatments, and a new protocol for modifications once it was installed in Baymax's new body. Before doing anything to Baymax himself, Hiro or someone else would have to ask for permission and the personal healthcare companion not only had the ability to say no, but also to carry out actions to reinforce his choice. 

Over all, Hiro was happy with what the Baymax 2.1 would be. It would take him awhile, researching medical procedures and coding the situations relating to them onto Baymax's chip without messing up Tadashi's previous work, but Hiro was only in a minor rush. 

He didn't need Baymax. Not really. Not anymore. But that didn't mean Hiro was reluctant to have him around again. Hiro couldn't wait to ride on Baymax's back again, seeing their reflection in the windows of skyscrapers. Would he have the microbots follow them? Or hover below like a cloud? Perhaps they would rest on his and Baymax's armor, making it hard to tell where Hiro ended and Baymax begun. Mochibot in return could ride on Hiro's shoulder and spit out flames as they flew.

Hiro shook the image from his head, half a smile on his lips. As cool as it would be to have the robotic cat spit fire, it wasn't practical and didn't fit at all with the objectives of his project. No, he would stick to allowing the cat to float and maneuver just enough to reach things on the top shelf so Mochibot could pick up things with it's mouth and not simply reduce stuff to ashes. 

Saving his work, Hiro closed Baymax's chip and went back to Mochibot. The sooner he finished this part of the project, the sooner he could spend a day working just on Baymax.

* * *

Hiro double checked the connected drive. Memories, from just before the final fight. Code detailing medical diagnoses and treatment. Power on and off protocols, working scanner, working audio equipment. 

Baymax 2.1 was all ready to be activated. 

Hiro hesitated with his finger over his phone. Did he want to let the others know what he was going to do? 

No. No he didn't. He'd make sure Baymax was working first, that his adjustments to the code hadn't glitched him and would subject him to numerous hits from carbon fiber arms buffeted by a thick balloon. If this worked, then he'd have Baymax trail him into the lab. They were all working hard on their projects, they were due next week, and could do with a small break. 

Plus, if he admitted it to himself, after almost four months of work and imaging this moment in his head for weeks, Hiro wanted this moment to be private. 

He disconnected the cables, moved Baymax's cube towards the center of the room, took position three feet in front of the cube, spread his arms, and said "ow".

Instantly, there was the sound of inflation. No issues with recognizing when he was needed. No issues with the inflation himself. Any moment now, Baymax would spew out Tadashi's programed greeting, a~nd - 

"Hello, Hiro."

It was more than he could have expected. Baymax remembered him. Not as a patient he had treated before, but as the boy he helped. The boy who flew on his back, who violated his health care protocols, the boy who cried at videos of his brother's failure, and the boy who learned from his mistakes and started to open up to others. 

This was Baymax saying _hello, I know you, I missed you._

This was Tadashi saying _hello, I miss you, I love you, and look at how amazing you are._

Hiro launched himself at Baymax's stomach and cried into the hug.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you guys for reading this! (And please, let me know what you think because comments make my day way more than kudos.) I'll probably keep writing in the fandom, fyi, as I already have another fic finished. But I promise, I'm 1/2 through the next Dark Moon chapter so RotG will still get some love from me. Follow me on Twitter if you guys want to see real time examples of what I've recently churned out. I post snippets every time I write.


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